What's the Difference Between the ISEE and the SSAT?

The ISEE (often referred to as the ERB) and the SSAT are extremely similar in most ways, but they do vary in others. While most children will perform similarly on both tests, some children do perform better on one than the other. Understanding the subtle differences between the two tests (and how they relate to your child) is therefore essential.

The most important thing to understand is that both exams test for the same material. They are offered by different organizations, and their formatting is slightly different, but children who take the ISEE and the SSAT will have to demonstrate mastery in:

1. Basic mathematics

2. Grammar skills

3. Vocabulary

4. Reading comprehension

5. A slight degree of logical reasoning

6. Essay writing

Neither test is “harder” than the other, and for all practical purposes, the material tested is exactly the same. If you want proof of this, go online or to a local Barnes and Noble and try to find a book that only teaches the ISEE or the SSAT – you won’t, because publishers have found that creating separate books is inefficient. Instead, most ISEE/SSAT prep books teach the same material for both tests, and then simply include two versions of each exam at the end for practice.

The idea that either test is “harder” is flawed. The SSAT is no more difficult than the ISEE and vice versa. Also, most schools will accept either exam (though talking to an expert in high school admissions is important to make sure that you know what your target schools expect and prefer).

The key difference in the two exams is in their complexity. The SSAT is a more complex exam than the ISEE – however, this does not mean that it is harder. Let me explain the difference by providing an analogy:

I come from an SAT background. I’ve tutored hundreds of students in the SAT, and parents often ask me what the difference is between the SAT and the ACT (the other admissions exam that most colleges now accept). The answer to this question is always the same:

The SAT is a logical reasoning exam, whereas the ACT is a test of your overall knowledge.

Put another way, the SAT asks easy questions in complex ways, whereas the ACT asks much more difficult material in a more straightforward way. I bring this up because there is a very close parallel between the SAT/ACT split and the SSAT/ISEE split.

The essay topic for an ISEE might look something like the following two examples:

“What makes a good friend? Why do you like the friends that you have?”

“Who is your biggest hero? Why is he/she your hero?”

These are very straightforward topics and don’t require much training to write about. However, SSAT essay topics will look more like this:

“The grass is always greener on the other side. Explain this sentence and what it means in your life.”

“Don’t count your chickens until they hatch. Why do you think this is good advice, and would you give it to a friend?”

These essay topics aren’t ballistically difficult, but they are definitely more complicated than the ISEE essay topics. Grades aren’t given to essays by either examination board, but essays are sent to the schools that you apply to along with test scores.

On the reading comprehension section, the ISEE will ask questions such as:

“How does the author prove that the water is dirty?”

Whereas the SSAT might ask,

“What might the author say if you told him that the water was dirty?”

Once again, neither question is more difficult than the other, but both questions vary in complexity.

One other key difference to note is that the SSAT subtracts points for wrong answers, whereas the ISEE does not. Therefore, students are penalized for guessing or for attempting an answer choice with incomplete information. Remember, however, that these tests are graded on a curve. SSAT scores are compared with the scores of other students who took the SSAT, so this penalty will not affect comparative scores in relation to the ISEE. This is essential to understand – if you pit your child’s strengths against other children’s’ weaknesses, his/her score will be better than his or her classmates’.

So, if you’re looking for a definitive answer on this topic:

1. If your child has a mastery of the material, but has issues with timing and with strangely worded questions, he/she should take the ISEE. The ISEE is a more straightforward exam, and if you think that your child has better math, writing, and reading skills than other students (but worse logical reasoning skills), the ISEE is the test for you.

2. If your child is good at solving puzzles and dealing with complex wording and concepts, then he/she should take the SSAT. If your child is good at logical reasoning, then compared to the other students who take the exam, he or she will excel.

If you would like to schedule a consultation to figure out which test is best for your child, please get in touch via form on our homepage or the contact information in our header. Our availability for consultations is extremely limited, so please be sure to reserve your spot as far in advance as possible.

You can also follow the latest updates on the ISEE and SSAT by visiting our blog using the "blog" link in the menu bar of our site.